“QuakeCon is our favorite event of the year, and we can’t wait to finally see our incredible QuakeCon community in-person again, celebrate games, and frag all weekend with thousands of friends,” id Software boss Marty Stratton said. “For our first year back, QuakeCon 2023 is focusing on the fan favorite BYOC and the players that made QuakeCon the best gaming gathering for more than 25 years.”

BYOC is “Bring Your Own Computer,” which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: Bring your own PC and hook into a massive, non-stop LAN party that runs through the entire event. The LAN is notable not just for its sheer size—we’re talking thousands of PCs at once—but also for the extravaganza of case mods (opens in new tab) on display, which never fails to impress.

In previous years, general admission to QuakeCon was free, while anyone who wanted to take part in BYOC had to pony up for a ticket. For 2023, however, Bethesda is going all-in on the LAN, and dropping the exhibit hall and general admission access: QuakeCon 2023 “will be a ticketed-only event with admittance limited to pre-registered BYOC guests,” Bethesda said.

Like most other major gaming conventions, QuakeCon opted to go online-only for 2020-2022 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused more than 1.1 million deaths in the US alone. But with the daily death count now below 300, according to the CDC (opens in new tab), the US government recently declared that the Covid-19 “public health emergency” will be ended on May 11.

Despite the focus on the BYOC mega-LAN, there will be other things to see and do at QuakeCon 2023 including community events, tabletop games, the QuakeCon Finals Party, and the Quake World Championships. A full schedule will be announced “soon.”

I had the pleasure of experiencing some smooth and steady Wordle-ing today. No glorious early win, no fraught guesses right at the end—just a steady stream of clues and confirmations that made today’s Wordle game a quiet bit of fun.

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Sunday, April 9

When nothing goes the way it was supposed to, and everything’s all screwed up and confused, the answer to today’s Wordle might be used to describe the situation. This word can also refer to a milder snag, error, or hitch too. There are two vowels to find today. 

Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

No letters are used twice in today’s puzzle. 

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

Anyone can pick up and play Wordle, but if you want to do it well and make all of your guesses count, these quick tips will help get you started on your Wordle winning streak: 

• Choose an opener with a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants. 
• The answer may contain the same letter, multiple times.
• Try not to use guesses that contain letters you’ve already eliminated. 

Thankfully, there’s no time limit beyond ensuring it’s done by midnight. So there’s no reason not to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Sometimes stepping away for a while means you can come back with a fresh perspective. 

Today’s Wordle answer

What is the #659 Wordle answer?

Here’s to your win streak. The answer to the April 9 (659) Wordle is SNAFU.

Previous answers

The last 10 Wordle answers 

Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated. 

Here are some recent Wordle solutions:

• April 8: LEDGE
• April 7: LOCUS
• April 6: LEAFY
• April 5: SMASH
• April 4: RATIO
• April 3: FLORA
• April 2: STOCK
• April 1: MARCH
• March 31: EVERY
• March 30: BREAD

Learn more about Wordle

Wordle gives you six rows of five boxes each day, and you’ll need to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them to keep up your winning streak.

You should start with a strong word (opens in new tab) like ARISE, or any other word that contains a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You’ll also want to avoid starting words with repeating letters, as you’re wasting the chance to potentially eliminate or confirm an extra letter. Once you hit Enter, you’ll see which ones you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.

You’ll want your next guess to compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you might have missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. After that, it’s simply a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the correct word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words and don’t forget letters can repeat too (eg: BOOKS).

If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips (opens in new tab), and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above. 

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle (opens in new tab), as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle (opens in new tab), refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures (opens in new tab). Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes. 

Today’s Wordle turned out alright in the end, although the first two guesses couldn’t have gone much worse if I’d tried. There’s nothing quite as crushing as typing out a really great, balanced opener… and seeing not a single letter turn yellow. Still, it’s unexpected situations like these that help make every Wordle answer so much fun to find.

Wordle hint

A Wordle hint for Saturday, April 8

Wordle needs you to find a word used to describe a narrow horizontal surface sticking out of a large vertical one. Think of a small shelf-like protrusion on a mountainside, for example. There’s only one vowel today. 

Is there a double letter in today’s Wordle? 

Yes, a vowel is used twice in today’s Wordle. 

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day 

If there’s one thing better than playing Wordle, it’s playing Wordle well, which is why I’m going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success: 

• A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants. 
• A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
• The solution may contain repeat letters.

There’s no time pressure beyond making sure it’s done by midnight. So there’s no reason not to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. 

Today’s Wordle answer

What is the #658 Wordle answer?

Keep on winning. The answer to the April 8 (658) Wordle is LEDGE.

Previous answers

The last 10 Wordle answers 

The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today’s Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that’s already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.

Here are some recent Wordle solutions:

• April 7: LOCUS
• April 6: LEAFY
• April 5: SMASH
• April 4: RATIO
• April 3: FLORA
• April 2: STOCK
• April 1: MARCH
• March 31: EVERY
• March 30: BREAD
• March 29: BESET

Learn more about Wordle

Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it’s up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.

You’ll want to start with a strong word (opens in new tab) like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.

You’ll want your second go to compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer.

After that it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there’s an E). Don’t forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).

If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips (opens in new tab), and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above. 

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle (opens in new tab), as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle (opens in new tab), refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures (opens in new tab). Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes. 

That’s “maps” plural for traditional multiplayer—a total of three 6v6 maps and two larger “battle maps” adapted from the Warzone map, which is a nice change of pace from what has been a somewhat slow start to Modern Warfare 2’s post-launch support (opens in new tab).

Both halves of the community seem pretty well served this time around, which makes me think it could be the first CoD update in a while that makes everyone happy (or at least less angry than usual). Here are the most pertinent details from the Season 3 update coming April 12:

Modern Warfare 2

• 5 new guns, including the famed Intervention sniper rifle (opens in new tab) from Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
• 3 new 6v6 maps (two at launch and one mid-season)
• 2 battle maps
• 3 2v2 Gunfight maps
• Co-op raid episode 3

Battle royale

• 5 new guns (same as MW2)
• 2 new modes, including Plunder and ranked
• New gulag map
• Tempered plate vests
• Redeploy drones
• UAV towers

DMZ

• Workbenches
• Barter system
• Character slots
• New faction missions

There’s also a new battle pass, of course, but Activison is trying something a bit different this time: what if there was a version of the battle pass that was triple the price and came with extra super premium exclusive skins? Called Blackcell, this new $30 version of the battle pass includes the Blackcell operator, a black/gold suit and mask combo that has become an increasingly popular shooter aesthetic in recent years.

The bundle claims to have a roughly $70 value, but better to think of it as a regular $20 cosmetic bundle that also comes with the premium battle pass. It’s not a bad deal if you’re super into the John Wick/edgelord aesthetic and already plan on getting the pass. Hilarious that a few digital cosmetics half the price of a new videogame can be considered a good deal in 2023, but that’s where we’re at.

Interestingly, Season 3 will also introduce official Discord integration to MW2 and Warzone 2 on PC. It’s unclear exactly what that will entail, but my prediction for this feature is a simple in-game menu that lets me access my Discord servers so I don’t have to alt-tab or rely on hotkeys. More info on this will be coming in next week’s patch notes.

I hope Call of Duty steers clear of how 2017’s Lawbreakers (RIP) used Discord. That game partnered with the chat app as its official voice chat solution, meaning it would constantly kick me out of the server I was already in to join the match voice chat. It wasn’t great.

In TerraScape, these merged buildings appear when placing specific structures in a certain arrangement. In addition to cottages becoming a longhouse, chapels and churches can be merged into a mighty cathedral, and several large homes can be combined into a stately villa. Careful placement of buildings is already key in TerraScape, but this merged building feature not only makes my already beautiful city even more pleasing to look at, it also gains me extra points. And it rewards me with something even more important: a bomb I can use to blow up a structure I’m not happy with so I can build something else.

TerraScape has a strong Dorfromantik (opens in new tab) feel to it, except instead of building a map with hexagonal tiles, a hex map is generated for you and then you play decks of cards to fill it with buildings. Each building card can be placed to earn points based on the spot you choose to play it, and the logic of that placement will make immediate sense to anyone who’s played a city builder before. 

Your lumberjack building will earn more points the more forest hexes it’s adjacent to, your cottages will benefit from being close to the city center, market, or church, and your iron and stone mines will naturally score more points on the craggy mountaintops than in the fields below. There are also negative placements to avoid: put two fishing boats too close to each other and they’ll catch fewer fish, and if your windmill is surrounded by forest tiles instead of wheat farms they’re not going to grind much grain. It’s all about picking the best spot to play your buildings to maximize the points you get from each card, and using cards smartly in combination with the other cards you’ve already placed.

As you play cards in a category like forestry or farming, you acquire points to unlock new buildings in that category: lumberjacks will be joined by sawmills and hunting cabins, for instance. Then new decks will begin to appear, like the city deck that will let you start adding bigger houses and taverns to the map. You can also periodically upgrade your city center as you play, growing it from a small cluster of wooden buildings into towering stone keep. As your city begins to sprawl you’ll unlock gardens, monasteries, blacksmiths, and just about anything else you might find in a traditional city builder. And it’s really satisfying to sit back and see your village has grown from a dusty little settlement into a proper city.

There’s no ticking clock or any real pressure in singleplayer (TerraScape does have PvP multiplayer where you try to outscore your opponent, though I haven’t had the chance to try it yet), so there’s plenty of time to choose where to build and enjoy zooming in close to admire the city as it grows. There are lots of lovely details in the animation: fishing boats casting nets in the lake, smoke rising from chimneys of cottages and longhouses, eagles soaring overhead and deer in the meadows. Even the little fishery building has a barrel beside it, filled with water, and you can spot a wee little fish leaping out and splashing back into it. Adorable.

The only thing missing from the city are, well, people. It would be nice to see some of your tiny little citizens walking around, working the fields, enjoying the gardens, or visiting the market, but even without them the game is lovely to look at.

There are a couple of different ways to play, either in puzzle mode where you try to score enough points to advance to new maps using new decks, or in freeplay, which for my money is much more enjoyable. I just hate leaving maps behind to start new ones in puzzle mode, and I’d much rather spend my time filling up on a big map as much as I can before I eventually run out of new cards to play. The largest procedurally generated map took me about 45 minutes to play, and I enjoyed every second of it.

The developer of TerraScape, Bitfall Studios, plans to add a lot to the game while it’s in early access over the next 12 months, including new merged buildings, new card decks, additional map biomes, and a cooperative multiplayer mode (opens in new tab). But it already feels like a pretty enjoyable game to me, relaxing to play and super satisfying to look at. You’ll find it on Steam (opens in new tab), and until April 12 you can get it for 25% off the $13 price.